Why even pay twenty dollars for a mouse? Today, you can buy a laser-tracking mouse for less than twenty dollars. To make my case even more difficult for myself, some of the best FPS gamers out there use some of the cheapest mice! Why? How?

Two things are for sure: The reason is not that the cheaper mice perform better than the more expensive mice, and, likewise, it is not because the cheaper mice look better than the more expensive mice. The main reason that I get from asking around is this: enthusiasts have given up wasting money, because expensive mice just provide gimmicks and flashy design cues that only get in the way between the user and the game.

Until recently, I was one-hundred percent in agreement. I would spend a lot of money on buying mice that looked really nice and seemed to have lots of useful, fun features, only to be later disappointed when I would realize that all those extra buttons and lights have not a single bit of useful functionality. Ultimately, I was exclusively using the left, right and middle scroll buttons, complaining about how my fingers would accidentally hit one of the carelessly-placed “feature-buttons”. Long story short, I would've been much better off with a sub-twenty-dollar, plastic, no-name mouse. Not anymore — Not with the Vengeance Series M60 FPS Laser Gaming Mouse.

To most people, “the best” is a very poor statement of judgment. What's good to you is not necessarily good to me. But to engineers, “the best” is synonymous to “the fastest, simplest, most reliable and most seamless execution of process(es)”. This is true for any tech-product in the world, and just like water, the moment you contaminate it with distracting flavors and chemicals, the product is never as refreshing or as satisfying as the original. While you can never get tired of drinking water, you get sick and tired of tasting those added flavors and chemicals over and over again.

Too often, designers make really pretty and cool shapes and molds, not even thinking about its real-world application. Then, the human factors engineers modify the design to fit the user. What comes from this is an attractive product that may draw customers into purchasing the device, but with expectation follows disappointment, and users notice the compensation in usability for aesthetics. On the flip-side, some of the most beautiful products made by long-time, respected tech companies — audio companies like Bang & Olufsen or Bowers and Wilkins, and especially exotic car companies like McLaren or Koenigsegg — design with function as their number one priority. What is the result? A product that may cost significantly more than a “common” product, but is desired and respected by everyone. Why? Because not only does it look like the best thing out there — it performs like the best thing out there, and the key point is that design and functionality work in perfect harmony.

Enough about theory and more about the actual mouse, here is the Corsair Vengeance M60 FPS Mouse.

There are a total of eight (8) buttons on the M60 — Left Click, Right Click, Middle Scroll/Click Wheel, DPI Up, DPI Down, Back, Forward and Sniper buttons. Each button functions exactly as they are named, and the only one that needs explanation is the sniper button. With the sniper button depressed, the DPI of the mouse immediately drops from any of the three normally selected DPI levels to a specially designated, "Sniper" DPI (mine is set to 200 DPI). This enables the user to more easily aim from a further distance away when using a scoped weapon, since a lower DPI takes the same amount of mouse movement and translates that into less travel on-screen. Then, once the sniper button is released, the mouse immediately reverts back to the previously selected DPI level to resume fast screen travel.

Paired with the Corsair M60 Software, each of the M60's buttons can be configured to do as the user wishes, and both the Sniper Button's and the default mouse level's DPI levels can be custom-set.

More important than the button features, are the M60's shape and construction. This mouse is designed for the FPS gamer. As FPS games require lots of quick and frequent movements of the mouse, the M60 is first and foremost constructed on top of a solid aluminum unibody chassis. This provides great structural rigidity along with a very reassuring heft that lets your hand know just how much you're moving the mouse. In addition, the M60 has three adjustable metal weights found at the bottom, allowing you to more specifically fine-tune your mouse's weight and center-of-gravity to suit your taste. So how does all of this translate in-game? In my K60 Keyboard Blog Post, I talked specifically about movement. Now we move onto the aiming, shooting, and killing.

Counter-Strike is not my strong-suit when it comes to video games. Usually, I find a guy, aim and shoot, miss, and get shot. Although getting into the habit of using the sniper button took a couple of hours, the time invested was more than worth it. Playing with the M60 mouse almost felt like cheating — any time I had some sort of complaint, I could make the slightest of change to the mouse and it made a noticeable difference. Yeah, the M60 isn't the only mouse that can do all of these things, it's all about the subtle differences in the way the same attributes are executed.

The K60 Keyboard and the M60 Mouse are two perfect modern examples of how staying true to the fundamentals can result in a product that performs great and looks stunning. If you look at the M60 mouse, you will see that the design is simple and clean. When you place your hand on the M60 mouse, you will feel that your fingers lay naturally over each strategically placed button. When you use the Corsair Vengeance Series M60 FPS Laser Gaming Mouse, you'll notice the difference it makes to your gameplay.